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Are you looking for an activity that will keep your students on task as they practice important literacy and math skills? I have just the thing! In fact, your students will like these activities so much that they will be begging for more! Kindergarten mystery pictures will be a hit in your classroom because your students won’t even realize they’re hard at work!
Mystery pictures are a pixel grid that students color in according to a key. The key can use a variety of different literacy or math skills that help students practice targeted concepts. Once students have completed the math or literacy tasks for the key, they will color in the grid.
Since the blank grid of the mystery picture has very few clues about the final image, students are always so excited to watch the picture take shape as they complete their work. They love the suspense of discovering what the mystery picture will be!
In addition to keeping students engaged in skill practice, mystery pictures are a great way to help your students strengthen their fine motor skills. Since each box is its own coloring “task”, it’s less likely to overwhelm your students who aren’t as fond of coloring. They can just focus on coloring in one box at a time instead of working on the entire picture at once.
Mystery pictures can also help students practice identifying color words, since they need to identify which color to use for each item in the key.
As I mentioned above, mystery pictures can be used to practice many different literacy and math concepts. Here are ten examples of how you can use mystery pictures in kindergarten to practice math and literacy skills.
First, students can improve their number sense as they practice number identification with a mystery picture.
Students can also write the numbers in the key to help practice number formation!
Students can practice counting unit blocks, fingers, or within ten frames as they complete a mystery puzzle.
After counting the objects, students can write down the corresponding number in the key. Then they can find and color the numbers in the grid based on the key.
Another helpful skill for students to practice is ordering numbers.
For this mystery picture, they can identify the missing number in each sequence and write it on the blank. Then they will find and color that number in the mystery picture.
Could your students use more practice with composing and decomposing numbers? Mystery pictures can help!
Students can identify the missing numbers in each number bond, and then color in those numbers on the grid of the mystery picture.
Addition and subtraction are also great skills to practice using mystery pictures. Students can solve equations, identify missing addends, and even practice adding with three addends!
The numbers that they write in the key will be the numbers that they color on the mystery picture.
This letter identification activity is helpful practice for students who are learning the alphabet!
They can write the letters in the key and then color the grid of the mystery picture based on the key.
You can help your students listen for beginning and ending sounds in words with a mystery picture activity. Students will name each picture in the key and listen for the missing sound.
Once they have identified and written the beginning or ending sound, they will find and color those letters in the mystery picture.
Mystery pictures are also a great way to practice reading and writing CVC words. Students will identify each picture in the key and then write the CVC word to correspond with the picture.
After writing each CVC word, students will find and color those words on the grid.
You can also help your students practice consonant blends with a mystery picture!
Students can listen for consonant blends at the beginning and ending of words after identifying each picture from the key. This is a great way for them to practice different phonics patterns!
Finally, mystery puzzles can make sight word practice more fun and engaging! Students can practice writing each sight word in the key and then find them in the grid.
This is a great way to bring more repetition to sight word practice.
Since these are self-directed activities, there are many different ways that you can incorporate mystery pictures into your daily routine:
Would you like to use mystery pictures to bring some hands-on engagement to your classroom? I have put together a bundle of mystery pictures that focus on a variety of math and literacy skills. You’ll find over 250 different puzzles that correspond to every season of the year. Your students will love these engaging activities!
To take a closer look at everything included in this bundle, you can find it in the A Spoonful of Learning shop or on TPT. Just click on the button below to quickly and easily download these mystery pictures!
Be sure to save this post if you’d like to come back to it later! Just add the pin below to your favorite board on Pinterest. You’ll be able to quickly find these mystery pictures when you’re looking for a fun, hands-on activity for your kindergarten classroom.
These alphabet books will have students dive deep into learning about each letter of the alphabet while eager to see what activity they get to complete next!
